A growing number of people in the UK are choosing to follow a plant-based diet and go vegan (at least 542,000 people in Britain are now following a vegan diet) – but why is this so good for you and what are the benefits of making this kind of lifestyle choice? Here are just five good reasons to go vegan this year.

#1 Animal exploitation

Many are inspired to give up eating meat and dairy to help prevent animal exploitation. Some have an emotional attachment to animals, others believe they have a right to life. Avoiding animal-based products is the quickest way of making a stand against animal cruelty.

#2 Personal health

Following a vegan diet can make your skin look younger and give you a serious energy boost. If you plan your diet well, you’ll find it full of essential vitamins and minerals like protein, calcium and iron. Your diet will also contain good fats (such as coconut oil) be low in saturated fat and be high in fibre.

#3 The environment

Avoiding animal products is a brilliant way of reducing your carbon footprint so if this is a concern of yours, think about going vegan over the next few months.

#4Experimenting in the kitchen

You’ll likely try out all sorts of new food sources like tofu, silken tofu, quinoa, couscous and more if you start looking into a vegan diet. You can even find dairy free cheese these days so why not do some research to see what you could substitute in the fridge?

#5 Helping others

A plant-based diet not only helps the animals but it helps mankind as well. Vegan Society figures suggest this kind of diet only needs one-third of the land required to support a dairy and meat diet.